This Middle Eastern style casserole recipe makes a change from your usual casserole dishes. Thanks to the addition of ingredients like cumin, coriander and cinnamon, the dish is deliciously fragrant, but also has a sweetness thanks to the addition of dried apricots.
Cooking the casserole for three to four hours means the beef is wonderfully tender and the whole room will be filled with the fragrance of the dish.
Ingredients
- 2tbsp olive oil
- 1kg (2lb 4oz) beef shin, cut into large chunks
- 2 onions, finely sliced
- 2tsp ground cumin
- 2½tsp coriander seeds, crushed
- ¾tsp sweet paprika, plus extra to serve
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 5 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 x 400g (14oz) tin chopped tomatoes
- 2tbsp tomato purée
- 500ml (18fl oz) beef stock
- 50g (2oz) tahini paste
- 1tbsp lemon juice
- 50g (2oz) yoghurt
- 1tbsp fresh parsley, chopped, plus extra for serving
- 1tbsp fresh mint, chopped, plus extra for serving
- 8 dried apricots, roughly chopped
Method
Heat the oil in a large casserole then brown the beef in batches over a medium heat and set aside.
In the same casserole, fry the onions for 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Now add the spices and garlic and fry for another 2 minutes until fragrant.
Add the tomatoes, tomato purée, beef stock and 150ml (¼pt) water. Bring to the boil then reduce, cover and leave to simmer gently over a low heat for 3 to 4 hours or until the meat is very tender.
Mix the tahini, lemon juice and yoghurt together, season and set aside. When ready to serve, spoon over the yoghurt mixture, scatter with herbs and chopped apricots then sprinkle over some paprika. Serve with giant couscous.
Top Tip for making Spiced Beef Casserole
We used beef shin in this delicious recipe – it’s a good-value cut but more importantly, it’s full of flavour and perfect for slow cooking
